Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1887-04-15
The Sportsman's Paradise.


which we make the following eX-
tracts -
Corea is paradise for sportsmen.
Almost in the village streets one may
shoot pheasant, quail, etc, for the na-
tives as a rule let them alone, the
only hunting they do being of the
"still hunt order, in each others
heads. This is Almost common sight
to witness and | have even seen a
whole line of coolies squatting down,
one behind the other, the front man
being the only one idle, and the rear
one the only unharvested one. l
once suggested to the brethren at one
of these battues that it would increase
the efficiency Of the combination if
they would make "both ends meet"
80 that Alpha might employ himself
upon Omega, but they seemed to re-
sent barbarian interference and only
looked at me spiciously, as if doubt
ing whether | had ever really had
any practical experience at all in the
matter.
A PARADISE OF GAME
But for the other game. The most
magnific emily plumed, plump and Ia
cious pheasants. quail, woodcock, tur-
key bustard, wild swan, etc. abound.
The marshes and waters TEEN with
geese and duck, the waters with fish
and oysters, the grass with ugly and
venOmous sCakes- but wear boots
and hare, wild boar. antelope, etc
are plenty within three hours walk or
so from any of the ports, within the
same distance bear and leopards are
frequently met with. / once saw in
Gensane leopard that had been kill
ed that morning two miles off. They
skinned him and ate the flesh Leop-
ard, bear and tiger skins, with count
less wolf and smaller animals hides
are commonly exposed for sale in the
shops. Then there are tigers in
plenty, if you wish to go for three
or four days trip. The Corean tiger
is larger than his Indian brother, and,
as his hair is some four or five inches
long (to suit the cold weather., which
bristles up and out straight when
aroused, his appearance is not sooth-
ing to the nerves as may be imagin
ed.
He is very fierce, and, like his
TammaDy relstivc, afflicted with
chronic hunger, which leads him often
into villages when least expected.
About half the year the Corean hunts
the tiger, and the other half The tiger
hunts the Corean. | was anxious TO
take part in tiger hunt, or at least
to get fresh tiger skin, but this sea-
son Of year seemed to be right in the
midst of the tigers half so that al
though [ might get a Corean's skin
cheap, tigers would come rather
high SO | waited. | do not delight
in killing dumb animals, anyhow, and
it seemed to me more humane to wait
until the tiger, like the water snake,
sheds his skin, and then, when he
had gone to the mountains for the
air, could annex it quietly. | had
also vivid recollection of an adven-
ture l had year ago in Formosa
with buffalo, in which the tables
were turned and / was most energeti-
cally and almost successfully hunted
into dense and prickly jungle of
screw pines-and they don't have
any screw pines here-I DON'T relish
screw pine jungles as an abiding
place, an Usage orange hedge is
pleasanter, but then "any port in q
storm"
"Well concerning this large game,
as say, it can usually be had within
q few miles of any port, and there are
always chances of meeting it even
within gulshot of the houses, so it is
best to be prepared.
THE CoREAN HUNTERS.
As for the other game, to use
broad word, but one happily applica-
ble to anything Corean, the country
is fairly lousy with it. | said that
the Coreans hunt little, so they do,
but the few Corean hunters are splen-
did shots and stalkers. | saw one
old shikoree come in one day, he
looked for all the world like some I'M
civilized old Bedouin of Sahara, arm
ed with great long iron gun of
Moorish pattern with lot of curious
characters carved on both wood and
metal, match or fuse lock, for pow
der coarse and fine home made mix
ture, and for shot handful of small
pebbles and bits of iron. | laughed
at him and his gun in derision, to
"rile" him, and succeeded. Then |
flung up small bottle and he "pot-
ted" it without an effort The gun
hung fire little, bnt he kept it bear
ing on the mark-he was used to it
and waited. They always shoot
from the hip"
These men go out after all sorts of
game with their old blunderbusses,
loaded with bad powder and gravel
and coil of slow match on their arm.
Up starts the game. Man gives
puff to his match, and, holding the
gun at the hip, jabs the match into
the pan! Then there is fizz or a
sputter, but our man is calm. He
keeps his eye on the mark and guides
the gun by his hand until the "iizz"
ends in sluggish "bang," when al
most invariably, down comes the tar
get. | asked this particular Nimrod
would he sell his gun. He said:
Yes, l,S00 cash (abous IS cents.) /
carefully examined the weapon, q
"curo" it certainly was, but to buy
it as a gun at 70 cents was reckless
waste. But | bought brace of fat
woodcock from him for / cents.
During the spring in this port we
could buy splendid pheasant or wild
geese at 20 cents dozen; swan, tur-
key bustard or antelope OF 30 cents
each, and wild duck, quail, ployer,
snipc, woodcock and such game at
about 55 or so cents a dozen, whilst |
other varieties and fish were almost |
nothing. lived almost entirely on
wild game, as you may imagine. All |
canned and dried provisions are very
dear and poor in quality.
WHAT VIIE pEppIE EAT